Review by: The Muskox

I don’t have many comments to introduce this whisky – it’s a Caol Ila, it’s well-aged from a good bottler, it’ll probably be tasty. What I can say is that I brought this whisky on a work shift a few months ago, and only rediscovered it in a bag on my shelf yesterday. I was horrified to discover that I had a) only about 7mL left, b) no memory of drinking it, and c) apparently didn’t take any notes. Eventually I did find, buried in my Google Keep, a full set of notes and a score for this whisky, so I’ve been able to confirm those with my tiny sample remnant.

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Distillery: Caol Ila.

Bottler: Maltbarn.

Region: Islay.

ABV: 48.9%, cask strength.

Age: 20 years old. Distilled in 1999. Bottled in 2020.

Cask type: Sherry cask.

Color: No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

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Nose: Fragrant. Sweet with syrupy fruit up front. Pineapple syrup, banana, dragonfruit, and slightly underriped citrus. Cool sweet smoke, green tea, musty herbs, fried pancetta, and black pepper. Burning beeswax candles.

Palate: Medium texture. Soft, creamy, and herbal on the arrival – matcha, hand cream, and cool soft peat. Bittersweet wet firewood and overbrewed tea on the development, as well as a soft savoury note of grilled poblano. Right on the back end of things, deep fruit notes of musky mango and plum emerge.

Finish: Medium. Honeycomb and ginger. Succulent smoke, and succulent plants. Green pepper and herbs. Another hint of plum.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Dewy backpack breakfast”

Notes: Tasty stuff. Good flavours and depth with a lovely sweet tropical nose. Very evocative to me of a cool misty morning in the deep woods. Presumably a refill sherry cask. This whisky seems to fall into Caol Ila’s in-between years, when there’s been enough aging that peat has mellowed but not enough where you start to get real ‘old-whisky’-type flavours. I think I generally prefer more strongly-peated whiskies like Laphroaigs and Longrows in this kind of age range, where there’s enough peat heft to carry over into middle age. Still, that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with this. This seems like the kind of whisky that I’d love to have a bottle of around. According to my rediscovered notes I was apparently ready to give this whisky an 89, but trying it again I think that’s rather high.

Final Score: 86.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.